As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Two University of California Berkeley law school
students were charged with crimes -- one with felonies -- in Las Vegas for
allegedly beheading an exotic bird, according to reports.

Prosecutors say Justin Teixeira, 24, and Eric
Cuellar, 24, stole a 14-year old helmeted guineafowl from a cage at the
Flamingo resort and casino on Oct. 12. The pair were seen on surveillance video
chasing the bird into some trees, and then emerging a short time later with the
bird's body and its severed head, the
Associated Press reported.

Teixeira's charges include felony killing and
felony torturing of an animal, while Cuellar's charge is a misdemeanor.
Teixeira could face prison time if convicted, while Cuellar's maximum sentence
is six months in jail, the news agency reported.

If convicted, the men's futures as attorneys may
be at risk. The State Bar of California requires lawyers to "demonstrate
good moral character."

He made himself enter the property after
learning it had been, to his mind, turned into a wasteland.

"I had a responsibility to go on,"
Ohlenkamp said.

More than 50 acres of habitat that harbored
migratory birds – and bird-lovers – were practically leveled this month as part
of a federal plan meant to eventually restore the area.

But the way the aggressive way the plan was
carried out came as a surprise to local environmentalists and bird-lovers who
frequent the area within the city of Los Angeles' Sepulveda Basin Recreation
Area.

Rich Kostecke, a bird expert and associate
director of conservation, research and planning at the Nature Conservancy in
Texas, looks through his spotting scope Monday during an annual 24-hour
Christmastime ritual to count birds along the Texas Gulf Coast in Mad Island,
Texas.

MAD ISLAND, Texas — Armed with flashlights,
recordings of bird calls, a small notebook and a stash of candy bars, scientist
Rich Kostecke embarked on an annual 24-hour Christmastime count of birds along
the Texas Gulf Coast. Yellow rail. Barn owl. Bittern. Crested Cara-Cara.
Kostecke rattled off the names and scribbled them in his notebook.

His data, along with that from more than 50
other volunteers spread out into six groups across the 7,000-acre Mad Island
preserve, will be analyzed regionally and then added to a database with the
results of more than 2,200 other bird counts going on from mid-December to Jan.
5 across the Western Hemisphere.

The count began in 1900 as a National Audubon
Society protest of holiday hunts that left piles of bird and animal carcasses
littered across the country. It now helps scientists understand how birds react
to short-term weather events and may provide clues as to how they will adapt as
temperatures rise and climate changes.

“Learning the changes of habit in drought could
help us know what will happen as it gets warmer and drier,” said Kostecke, a
bird expert and associate director of conservation, research and planning at
the Nature Conservancy in Texas.

Property owners in northern Otsego County and
migratory birds alike could benefit from a grassland protection program being
promoted by state officials and the Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation
District.

The State Department of Environmental
Conservation is willing to pay landowners in some areas of New York for
maintaining grasslands in areas that are known nesting spots for certain
species of endangered or protected migratory birds, said Scott Fickbohm,
manager of the local Soil and Conservation District.

“Due to changing land-use patterns, natural
vegetative succession, and development, grasslands are fragmenting and disappearing,”
DEC officials said in announcing the program.

To be eligible for the state funding, tracts
must have grassland parcels that are at least 25 acres. Officials said research
has shown grassland birds need large, uninterrupted habitat patches to thrive.
Parcels over 30 acres in size will receive priority points in DEC’s project
evaluation and scoring process.

Grant amounts, officials said, hinge on the
acreage of habitat that is accepted by the program. The minimum grant amount
corresponds to 25 acres, at a rate of $110 per acre, paid over five years, or $13,750.
Large unbroken parcels of high quality habitat are most desirable for species
conservation, said.

PORTSMOUTH — While many people spent their
Christmas Eve running errands and picking up some last-minute presents, local
resident Jack Farrell found himself attempting to return a special ocean-going
bird to its natural habitat.

Farrell, who is the island manager for Star
Island Corp., said the unique experience began early Christmas Eve morning,
when he got a phone call from a neighbor telling him about a "strange
bird" that had been found on the Seacoast.

The bird, which was identified as a Dovekie, was
one of three found on the Seacoast not long after a storm struck the region
late last week, Farrell said.

The Dovekie, a small, chunky, black and white
bird, had been taken to the Center For Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine. As it
turns out, the bird was the only one of three found locally to survive since it
became stranded.

Because Dovekies are native to the open Atlantic
Ocean, they must be in offshore waters to survive. That meant the bird, which
is part of the puffin family, would need to be returned to open water before it
was too late.

"They typically spend most of their time
out in the open ocean," said Sonja Ahlberg, wildlife specialist with the
Center for Wildlife.

I volunteer for wildlife rescue in Tampa,
Florida. At about 11 o’clock at night, I got a call about a cormorant on
the Howard Frankland Bridge. A bird was tangled in fishing wire and the
poor fella had been there since 5:30. So I took my net and headed out.

It was dark and when I got on the
bridge I was thinking, “Oh God, please let someone have beat me to it this
time and have already gotten him.” But no such luck for him nor I.
There he was, as traffic barrelled by him, scared half to death.

I pulled over the 4runner and got my net out,
but he saw me and headed towards traffic away from the bridge wall.

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Northwest Europe's threatened Bewick's swan
population has been boosted by a bumper year for chicks.

Numbers of the bird have declined dramatically
since the 1990s.

Up to 7,000 Bewick's swans usually migrate to
the UK, arriving in October and flying back to Russia in March.

But surveys this year show the number of young
among these wintering flocks has risen to 17.6%, compared to an average of
around 10% over the past 10 years.

Ornithologists have reported an overall average
of 14% young swans in flocks across northern Europe, the highest since 2001.

"It really is fantastic to see so many
cygnets arriving back. They have certainly been few and far between in recent
years," said Julia Newth from the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust (WWT).

Bewick's swans travel 2,500 miles (4,000km) from
their breeding grounds within the Arctic tundra in Russia to spend the winter
in the warmer British Isles and other parts of northern Europe, such as the
Netherlands and Germany.

The smallest swan in Europe, Bewick's swans are
distinguishable from fellow migrant whooper swans by their size and small
yellow blob on their black beaks, rather than the whooper's yellow wedge.

Critically Endangered
A native New Zealand bird, the orange-fronted parakeets are listed as
critically endangered on Red List of Threatened Species by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2004 it was estimated there were
between 300 and 500 Malherbe's parakeets left in the world.

In December 2005, captive-bred birds were moved
to Chalky Island in Fiordland, and in 2007 transported to Maud Island began.
Further populations were moved to Tuhua Island in December 2009 and Blumine
Island in 2011 and this year.

With funding from the Department of
Conservation, Forest & Bird and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation
Fund, Dr Ortiz-Catedral surveyed the Maud Island birds. He used a simple
methodology based on sightings and estimated their survival during the study
period, known as "mark-resighting".

Secretive
Due to the secretive nature of New Zealand parakeets, this methodology had not
been used before. However, on Maud Island the tameness of parakeets allowed for
detailed, repeated observations of the birds in their new habitat. Dr
Ortiz-Catedral says after success with the parakeets, this method could be
applied to similar species in other island populations in New Zealand and
around the world.

High reproduction rates
Since March 2007, regular surveys were conducted on Maud Island to record
juveniles hatched on site and others released on the island. Within two years,
Dr Ortiz-Catedral estimates the population increased from 11 to a maximum of 97
birds, due to the high reproductive potential of the species, and the absence
of introduced mammalian predators.

"The evidence from this study suggests
translocating captive-bred birds to sanctuaries like Maud Island, which are
free of invasive predators, is an effective management method for increasing
the global population size of the species," he says. "It is hoped
this will eventually downgrade its IUCN threat category."

Dr Brunton says the study is an excellent
starting point for further monitoring programmes for other parakeets managed
through translocation, and proves such a managed conservation programme is
effective.

Orange-fronted parakeets remain one of the least
known forest birds in New Zealand due to their rarity, and the ambiguity of
their status as a separate species.

Dr Ortiz-Catedral hopes that this study will
promote awareness of the species.

RSPB Scotland has today ( 21st December
2012) confirmed that an adult male hen harrier was found dead at a
Perthshire wind farm, with a second bird found injured three weeks later. Hen
harriers are a scarce species that hunt over rough grazings and moorland.

The birds were discovered on separate occasions
earlier this Spring, in the same section of the Griffin Wind Farm, near
Aberfeldy. The area had been forestry that was clear felled to aid the wind
farms construction and operation.

RSPB Scotland is now able to confirm that no
further hen harriers appear to have been affected at the windfarm during 2012.
RSPB Scotland staff have been working closely with operators SSE to avoid any
repeat tragedies. This has included visits to the site and advice to increase
post-construction monitoring. This will enable staff to understand how the
birds use the site, particularly during the species’ display period.

The Griffin Wind farm, comprising 68 turbines,
was granted permission in 2009. It was switched on in two phases, starting in
March and becoming fully operational in July 2012.

The first hen harrier was discovered by
engineers below a turbine on the 18th April, just three weeks later a second
male was found unable to take off close to the same turbine. The bird was found
to have an injured wing and sadly later died.

Aedán Smith, head of planning and development at
RSPB Scotland said : “This is a tragic situation and is likely to have had an
impact on the local breeding success of this vulnerable species. Sustained
persecution has placed the hen harrier under significant pressure, with the
raptor teetering on the brink of extinction in England. However, wind
farm collisions, the apparent reason for the death of these two birds, remain
very rare events indeed.

There’s good news for birdwatchers this season.
A team of ornithologists and forest officials has spotted rare newcomers at
Pulicat lake.

The migratory species were discovered on Friday
in the course of the first bird census at the lake, around 65 kms north of
Chennai, for the migratory season between October and March.

With major waterbodies such as Arani, Kalangi
and Swarnamukhi rivers, situated near the sanctuary, filled up by the rains,
the lake has turned an attractive feeding ground for thousands of migratory
birds.

Most of the birds have traversed several
thousand kilometres and arrived from countries in the northern hemisphere
including Russia, the Far East, Mongolia, China and Pakistan.

The day-long bird census was conducted by the
wildlife division of the State forest department to find the number of birds,
variety of species and areas within the sanctuary they favoured.

“Such an exercise helps us understand the
migratory pattern of the birds and the reasons. The arrival of more migratory birds
is also an indication of the region’s rich biodiversity,” a senior forest
official said.

On Saturday, a similar exercise was carried out
at Vedanthangal bird sanctuary, too, an official said.

Some of the rare migratory birds spotted for the
first time at Pulicat lake include the orange-headed thrush, black shoulder
kite, comb duck, black-capped kingfisher, caspian tern, curlew, European
herring gull, and black bittern.

“Apart from the severe winter in the north, the
availability of water and food are major factors for the birds to travel long
distances. In fact, birds are known to survey stretches along the migratory
route for a few years before settling down there for feeding or breeding,” a biologist
said.

South Florida's wading bird population suffered
during 2012, with nesting on the decline due to the return of too much water
too fast for herons, Wood Storks, ibises and egrets.

The 2012 wading bird nest total was a 39 percent
decline compared to the average over the past decade, according to the South
Florida Water Management District.

While the 26,395 wading bird nests found were
just 57 less than last year, it was also the third year in a row of poor
nesting totals.

It continued the steep drop off from 2009's
spike to 77,505 nests – which was the most since the 1940s.

Back to back years of drought followed by a
rainy 2012 resulted in yo-yoing water levels that caught many wading birds off
guard. Also, the small prey fish that wading birds rely on to survive have yet
to recover from previous droughts.

Birdwatchers have been flocking to a reservoir
in Berkshire to catch a glimpse of a rare American bird which has accidentally
migrated to the UK.

Almost one thousand people have travelled to
Queen Mother Reservoir to see the American Buff-Bellied Pipit.

Less than 20 of the species - which normally
migrate from North to South America for the winter - have ever been spotted in
the UK.

Ornithologist Paul Stancliffe called it a
"tremendous specimen".

Rare visits

This rare UK visitor is part of the Motacillidae
family of pipits and wagtails. Members common to the UK include the meadow
pipit, pied wagtail and grey wagtail. Other recent rare visitors have included a bee-eater in
Sunderland and a desert
wheatearwhich migrated to an Essex sandpit.

Mr Stancliffe, who is from the British Trust for
Ornithology, added: "It's incredibly rare. In birding terms it's 'mega',
and that doesn't mean literally - it's the size of a robin - but in terms of
its presence.

"It's phenomenal and you forget it's
crossed the Atlantic, and breeds in North America, but this small bird has
survived that crossing and found somewhere to its liking.

"It's been caught up in one of the pulsing
transatlantic storms and probably arrived here in a couple of days."

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

December 2012.When African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) forces took
control of the port city of Kismayo in Southern Somalia in September, they
found an estimated four million sacks of charcoal waiting to be exported. A
further four million sacks were stockpiled in and around the city, and at the
village of Buur Gabo, near the Kenyan border.

Much of the charcoal going out of Kismayo is
believed to have come from the Jubba valley, part of an Endemic Bird Area (EBA)
shared between Somalia and Ethiopia, which includes six Important Bird Areas
(IBAs) on the Somali side of the border. All the charcoal at Buur Gabo is
thought to have come from the mangroves and Acacia forests of the Laag Badaana
(Bush Bush National Park) IBA, which is contiguous with the Boni Forest Reserve
on the Kenyan side of the border, part of the East African Coastal Forests EBA.
Further stocks of charcoal subsequently found at Badhaadhe, to the north of
Laag Badaana, are also likely to have come from the national park.

Between them the Jubba forests and Laag Badana
are home to more than 50 bird species not found anywhere else in Somalia,
representing 9% of Somalia's recorded avifauna, and their survival in the
country is threatened by the scale of charcoal production.

Charcoal export ban ignored
The UN and the Somali government have banned the export of charcoal, which
provided the main source of income for the al-Shabaab militants who previously
controlled Kishmayo. The Somali government ban on charcoal exports dates back
to 1969, and Somalia's new president has re-emphasised that he does not want
either the Somali ban, or the UN one, lifted. But exports have resumed because
the port is under control of forces that are beyond the control of the
president.

Now that the charcoal is moving, mangrove and Acacia trees are once again being
cut down. Reports indicate that many people involved in charcoal production are
well aware that the damage to their environment and livelihoods is likely to be
irreversible, but see themselves as having no economic alternative.

It is thought likely that the fragile Acacia dry
forest ecosystems in particular will be unable to recover, while Laag Badana
holds the most important remnant of Somalia's mangroves, which are under
extreme pressure elsewhere from exploitation and coastal development.

Dec. 19, 2012 — Although climate change may
alter the distributions of many species, changes in land use may compound these
effects. Now, a new study by PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) researcher Dennis
Jongsomjit and colleagues suggests that the effects of future housing
development may be as great or greater than those of climate change for many
bird species. In fact, some species projected to expand their distributions
with climate change may actually lose ground when future development is brought
into the picture.

The study, "Between a rock and a hard
place: The impacts of climate change and housing development on breeding birds
in California," appears online in the journal Landscape Ecology.

Conservationists have long known that changing
land use and development may pose a major threat to wildlife through habitat
loss and degradation. Yet, many recent studies have focused solely on how the
changing climate will impact species. It is now clear that focusing on only one
of these threats may underestimate the actual risk to species from future
environmental changes.

Dec. 17, 2012 — As millions of us post our
Christmas cards -- many of which star a robin red breast -- ecologists are
investigating whether birds make us happy. Speaking at this week's British
Ecological Society Annual Meeting, researchers will reveal how they are investigating
the links between birds and our well-being, and explain how their results --
due out next year -- could have a major impact on UK bird conservation.

There has been an increasing amount of research
on the health benefits of green spaces such as parks and nature reserves, but
we know far less about how the wildlife within these habitats contributes
towards well-being benefits.

Take wild birds for example says PhD student
Natalie Clark from the University of Reading, who is leading the study:
"Most of us say we enjoy seeing wild birds in our local environments every
day, be that the friendly robin visiting our garden each Christmas or ducks
swimming in the local pond. But we have little idea of how much we value their
presence and how they're contributing to our overall well-being."

Given the declining numbers of many bird species
the study -- which also involves the University of East Anglia, the RSPB and
the University of Chicago -- is timely. "Any well-being benefit we may be
receiving could soon be in jeopardy as numbers of many wild bird species have
declined across the UK since the 1970s," says Clark.

Monday, 24 December 2012

Dec. 18, 2012 — Male birds use their song
to dupe females they have just met by pretending they are in excellent physical
condition.

Just as some men try to cast themselves in a
better light when they approach would-be dates, so male birds in poor condition
seek to portray that they are fitter than they really are. But males do not
even try to deceive their long-term partners, who are able to establish the
true condition of the male by their song.

Researchers at the University of Exeter studied
zebra finches to establish how trustworthy birdsong was in providing honest
signals about the male's value as a mate. Singing is a test of the condition of
birds because it uses a lot of energy. Fit and healthy birds are thought to be
able to sustain a high song rate for longer, making them more attractive to
females.

The research team, which included scientists
from the Université de Bourgogne in France, looked at short and longer
encounters with unknown females, as well as patterns of song around females who
were familiar to them.

The team discovered that males in poor condition
could "cheat" and vary their song to give a false impression to
stranger females. But they did not even try to fool those who knew them, who
used song as a reliable test of their underlying qualities. The research is
published on December 19 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal
Society B

Dec. 20, 2012 — Deep in the scrublands of
Keoladeo National Park in northwest India, one thing was hard for biologist
Jessica Yorzinski to ignore: It wasn't the heat. It wasn't the jackals. It was
the squawks of peacocks in the throes of passion.

From behind the trees in the distance, she could
hear a loud two-part whoop, the distinctive call that male peacocks make right
before mating.

During the peacock courtship dance, a male
announces that he's ready to make his move by dashing towards the object of his
affection and emitting a singular squawk before mounting his mate.

"Peacocks have a number of different
courtship calls, but this is the only one specifically associated with the
moment before copulation, a time when the female is finally right in front of
the male. It's called the hoot-dash display," said Duke University
researcher Jessica Yorzinski.

The amorous peacock's signature hoot poses a
puzzle for scientists.

For one, he's already got the girl.

"By that point she's already right there,
checking him out. You'd think that he might not need another signal at such a
late stage in the courtship process," Yorzinski said.

Dec. 20, 2012 — Scientists studying how
songbirds stay on key have developed a statistical explanation for why some
things are harder for the brain to learn than others.

"We've built the first mathematical model
that uses a bird's previous sensorimotor experience to predict its ability to
learn," says Emory biologist Samuel Sober. "We hope it will help us
understand the math of learning in other species, including humans."

Sober conducted the research with physiologist
Michael Brainard of the University of California, San Francisco.

Their results, showing that adult birds correct
small errors in their songs more rapidly and robustly than large errors, were
published in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Sober's lab uses Bengalese finches as a model
for researching the mechanisms of how the brain learns to correct vocal
mistakes.

Just like humans, baby birds learn to vocalize
by listening to adults. Days after hatching, Bengalese finches start imitating
the sounds of adults. "At first, their song is extremely variable and
disorganized," Sober says. "It's baby talk, basically."

December 2012. This remarkable bird has been reported to the British Trust for
Ornithology's (BTO) Abnormal Plumage Survey.

The timely ‘Santa Robin', which was seen by Ian
Wilson in Derbyshire, is a leucistic bird. This inherited disorder causes parts
of a bird's plumage not to have their normal colour and to appear white, often
affecting areas around the face and on the wings.

Most common in blackbirds
It's not just Robins that are being spotted through the BTO Abnormal Plumage
Survey. In total, over 1,500 birds across more than 35 species - ranging from
Blue Tit and Chaffinch to Buzzard and Coot - have already been recorded in the
UK's gardens. Blackbirds with unusual white feathers have been logged most
often, with members of the crow family, including Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and
Rook, also featuring highly.

Sunday, 23 December 2012

December 2012. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
have agreed to measures that could result in significant reductions in the
deaths of albatrosses, which accidently get snagged on longline fishing hooks
and then drown.

Two seabird bycatch mitigation measures

The meeting, held in the Philippines, announced that all longline vessels in
the South Pacific will now be required to use two seabird bycatch mitigation
measures in areas overlapping with albatrosses (South of 30S). Vessels must
choose from a choice of either bird streamers, also known as tori lines, which
scare birds away from the hooks; adding weights to hooks to make them sink more
quickly; or setting hooks at night when most birds are less active.

The move brings the WCPFC, which is the world's
largest tuna commission, in-line with the measures adopted in Atlantic in
November 2011 and the Indian Ocean in April 2012.

300,000 seabirds killed in longline fisheries

Scientists estimate that upwards of 300,000 seabirds are being killed every
year by longline fisheries; it's believed this is the primary reason behind 17
of the world's 22 species of albatrosses being threatened with extinction.

Albatross populations
Home to globally important populations of 14 albatross species, including
Antipodean, Chatham, Buller's, Salvin's, Shy and White-capped, the Pacific
Ocean is home to large fleets of longliners fishing for tuna. Tuna longliners
typically deploy several thousand hooks every day, attached by branchlines to a
main line that can be more than 100km long. Seabirds, especially albatrosses,
are vulnerable to becoming hooked when they take the bait, and are drowned as
the line sinks.

Dr Cleo Small, from the RSPB and BirdLife
International, said: "This move is great news for albatrosses worldwide,
including some UK albatross species such as the wandering albatross, which fly
right around the world in the non-breeding period and can be victims of bycatch
from the longliners that fish in the South Pacific. Without such measures,
these beautiful birds could be lost forever."

The fork-tailed flycatcher, native to Central
and South America, was spotted by birder Shelia Hargis Saturday near McKinney
Falls State Park during Travis County Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count.

Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Mark Klym attributes the bird sighting so
far North as a product of a confused migration path.

“The fork-tailed flycatcher usually comes from Argentina to Mexico at this time
of year,” Klym said. “Every once and a while one of them seems to overfly that
northbound migration and end up in Texas.”

Females are usually around 12 inches and males are larger at around 15 inches
long. Though the bird is around a foot long it only weighs about an ounce
making it ideal for gliding through thousands of miles of airspace.

On Monday it was reported there were two fork-tailed flycatchers in the area,
yet upon inspection of the image it was determined to be the flycatcher sitting
with one of its relatives, the scissor-tailed flycatcher.

“We have so many people coming from all over Texas and the U.S. to see this
bird,” said park ranger Amber Conrad. “This bird is relatively small, it’s like
a little cotton ball with some black string hanging off of it for its head and
its tail.”

Urban settings offer enterprising critters new
opportunities — if they can cope with the challenges

Anne Clark and Kevin McGowan are discussing,
perfectly seriously, how a crow might be able to recognize a car. Not tell a
car from, say, a cat, but pick out the red Subaru from other cars in the
parking lot.

Clark, an animal behaviorist at Binghamton
University in New York, is sitting in her own red Subaru with McGowan, of
Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca. Neither bothers to mention —
it’s apparently so routine — that when Clark pulled into the lot, two crows
flapped over to nearby trees. Country crows often back away from human doings,
but these birds lingered as if people-watching.

Clark and McGowan are running a long-term study
of what urban life is like for a group of Ithaca’s crows, tagging and following
them as they grow up, take over or lose territories, and succeed or not in
raising the next generation of research subjects. Even in a university town,
the birds probably aren’t lured to the Subaru by the thrill of scientific
discovery, but rather by the scientists’ occasional ploy of flinging peanuts
and dog food out the window to engineer some bird activity.

“They know us,” McGowan says. There isn’t
another Subaru in the lot to test the birds’ discriminatory abilities, but
McGowan has inadvertently conducted his own experiment. He sold his car and
bought a new one. McGowan was temporarily invisible automotively, but the birds
caught on eventually. And the old car’s new owner reported that a crow appeared
to be following him to work. It was OK; the driver just provisioned the car
with peanuts for an occasional fling.

The Seventh Conference of Parties (COP 7) of the
Nairobi Convention ended on 14th December with a COP Decision to designate
Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the territories of the Contracting Parties as a
tool for conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems, and to use information
on birds as indicators of ecosystem health.

The decision also requested the Secretariat of
the Nairobi Convention, in collaboration with the Contracting Parties, to
review the Convention’sProtocol Concerning Protected Areas and Wild Fauna and
Flora in the East Africa Region.

Formal recognition of marine IBAs in the
Convention region and review of the protocol were two of the recommendations
documented in the regional synthesis report on the status of birds
and their habitats in the Western Indian Ocean developed through a project
led by BirdLife Africa Partnership in collaboration with the Nairobi Convention
Secretariat. The synthesis report and BirdLife presentation at
the COP created much needed awareness on bird conservation as indicator of the
wider ecosystems health, especially now that oil and gas is gaining momentum in
national and regional development agenda.